NY Supreme Court says DRE machine is legal

Just days after New Yorkers For Verified Voting announced that the NY state Board of Elections had rejected direct-recording electronic voting equipment, the state's Supreme Court overruled their decision, allowing Liberty Election System's LibertyVote DRE to be purchased by New York counties.

The LibertyVote is being peddled as adaptive technology as well as voting equipment but the court's decision skirts the core issue of whether the LibertyVote can actually be used by a wheelchair-using or visually-impaired voter--Liberty Election System's lawyers apparently ducked out of providing a courtroom demonstration.

Bo Lipari, executive director of NYVV, wrote that the ruling "sets yet another legal precedent that the right of voting machine vendors to turn a profit supersedes that of voters to demand that the equipment we spend our tax dollars on be up to the job." For the voting machine industry the Help Americans Vote Act has always been more about getting those million-dollar contracts than developing secure, trustworthy technology to enable all voters to participate independently in our elections. The NY Supreme Court Case shows once again how a well-connected company can prevail over our rights.